Women working in frontline security at venues in Northern Ireland
Published 20 November 2025
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Request
Please provide statistics on the increase in the amount of women working on the door in Northern Ireland specifically during the years 2020 to 2025.
Is there a correlation between the amount of violent incidents that take place at bars and whether or not women are on the door?
Response
The SIA holds some of the information that you have requested.
Statistics on the number of women who hold an SIA licence enabling them to undertake door supervision roles
We have obtained the following data which shows the number of women who held an SIA licence for either the close protection or door supervision sectors (both covering door supervision roles) and who had a travel-to-work area in Northern Ireland.
The SIA licenses individuals rather than businesses, and as such we will never know where, or for whom, an operative is working. We are therefore unable to confirm how many of these licence holders are and were actively working in a door supervision role in Northern Ireland.
The figures below show the number of female active licence holders with a travel-to-work area in Northern Ireland as of 1 January for each year:
- 2020: 580
- 2021: 552
- 2022: 533
- 2023: 553
- 2024: 589
- 2025: 676
Whether more violent incidents take place at bars when women are on the door
The SIA does not hold information on whether there is a correlation between the amount of violent incidents that take place at bars and women being on the door.
Violence can be reported in a number of ways: directly to the premises, to the police, or to the SIA. As the police are the primary agency to investigate violent crime, incidents will generally only be reported to the SIA if the allegations indicate the involvement of a licence holder. The SIA will therefore not hold an accurate or comprehensive picture of the volume of reports of violence at licensed premises.
You may wish to make an enquiry with the Police Service of Northern Ireland as they may hold information that is of relevance to this FOI request. Trade associations such as the United Kingdom Door Supervisors Association or the International Professional Security Association may also have this type of information.
[Ref: FOI 0572]